Excerpt from Dies Romani, Short Readings From Latin Literature Owing to recent changes in school curricula and methods, many boys now begin the study of Latin at the age of twelve or thirteen, wolk through an introductory 'book, and in three or four years reach the standard of a matriculation examination. They then leave school, too often with the lasting impression that Latin literature consists practically of the works of Caesar and Ovid, and with no more exact knowledge of the life and thought of the Romans than they have acquired from a grammatical Study of the campaigns of the one and the mythology of the other. Such a result seems inevitable, if the methods and textbooks suitable for those Who will spend six or eight years on the study of Latin are adopted for these pupils. They cannot afford to devote the whole of a term or half year to a Single book. Accordingly I have selected, from as Wide a range of authors as possible, passages noteworthy either for their literary excellence or for their human interest. Though shorter than the ordinary 'book', they form in each case a complete whole; and will provide sufficient material for a three or four years' course, which may be begun as soon as the elements of the grammar are mastered. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.